In today’s economy, you will be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t think they spend too much money on groceries. For many people it is one of their top budget categories for their household. And for many it is the one they feel they have the least amount of control over.

Whether you are just too busy to cook every night, so most of your budget goes to eating out, or you don’t take the time to shop for deals so you end up paying full price, everyone has room to makes changes to how they shop and eat to help cut out a portion of the food budget. There are many tricks and tips you can use to help your grocery bill get smaller.

The annual BizWeek has been going on this week with local business owners and other interested individuals attending courses specifically geared to help them learn better practices to be successful.

On Tuesday morning, Martin Brossman conducted the “Shop Local, Buy Local, Invest Local” seminar at Southwestern Community College's Macon Campus. Brossman, who is widely considered a leading authority on social media and online marketing, speaks at many North Carolina community college small business centers throughout the state.

The Macon County Economic Development Commission has announced details of the upcoming BizWeek 2014 events scheduled for April 22 to 24. BizWeek is a celebration of business, industry and entrepreneurship in Macon County.

“BizWeek 2014 is not only designed to show appreciation and support for all our businesses, both large and small, but also offers educational and networking opportunities to encourage economic growth,” said Tommy Jenkins, director of the Macon County EDC. “Working with our public and private sponsors, we have an exciting schedule of events planned.”

Two events are slated for Tuesday, April 22. Southwestern Community College’s Small Business Center will present two programs by Martin Brossman, social media expert. The first, "Shop Local, Buy Local, Invest Local," begins at 9 a.m. on the Macon Campus of SCC. During this program attendees will learn how to generate a dynamic Shop Local strategy to help their business, town and county.

The Affordable Healthcare Act and what it means to employers will be the featured topic at the BizWeek 2014 Industry Roundtable to be held Monday, April 21, in the boardroom of the Cecil L. Groves Center at Southwestern Community College’s Macon campus at 2 p.m.

Presenting the program will be Gary Simmons, senior vice president and the health and markets leader for the Aon Hewitt’s Carolinas and Southern Virginia region. Aon is the leading global provider of risk management, insurance and reinsurance brokerage and human resources solutions and outsourcing services.

The focus of the Industry Roundtable will be a general overview of what the Affordable Care Act means to employers, especially small to medium-sized groups, and key regulatory and compliance hurdles that those groups are going to be facing under the regulation.